Chapter 3: Irony is NO Fun“Evans!”
The smile on Lily’s face immediately fell away. Some people would say it was because she hated James. Others are idiots, because why else would she go from happy-go-lucky Lily to I-don’t-care-if-I’m-sent-to-Azkaban-I’ll-rip-your-throat-out-with-my-bare-hands Lily?
“Not in the mood, Potter. Try again tomorrow, I might feel like hexing you into oblivion then. Or perhaps I’ll simply ignore you. So much easier to pretend you don’t exist.” She paraded off towards the stairs to head to the girl’s dorm, when James caught her shoulder.
“Tell me, Evans, how is dear Snivellus today?”
She barely suppressed a gasp. Why would he ask her…..how could he..? Oh well, there was a plan for things like this. Deny all accusations and insult like there’s no tomorrow.
“How am I supposed to know? I thought you knew it all, Potter, but apparently you’ve had your head deflated a bit. I’ll be going now.” She turned once again, and got up two steps before James had her shoulder again.
“Oh, no you won’t. You know, one would think that snogging in an empty corridor with someone would give them some idea of how the other person is.” James was sure that he had not made sense at all, but the desired effect was achieved. Lily’s face was now fighting with itself over whether she should look angry or confused. It was not very attractive, but of course, it being Lily, James still loved it. She finally decided on angry and ripped his hand from her shoulder.
“One, don’t touch me! And two, WHAT?”
James stood momentarily in awe of the girl in front of him. She managed to be beautiful even when she was angry…..in fact, she was probably more beautiful this way, that’s why he bothered her so often. When he snapped back into himself, he realized that he should be yelling, and proceeded to do so.
“I heard you today….I didn’t know that grease was capable of laughing! At least I finally know why you won’t go out with me! You have horrible taste in guys, you know, but on the bright side, you’ll never have to buy cooking oil!”
He didn’t know it was coming until it hit him. Lily’s pale hand hit him full force across his left cheek, almost knocking him sideways and onto the floor. His hands flew to his face, which was rapidly developing a red mark exactly the size and shape of a girl’s hand. Sirius snorted from his spot on the couch, and was quickly reprimanded by Remus.
“I won’t go out with you because you’re an arrogant, ugly git! You’re nothing but a big bully, and whoever told you that you were funny was seriously mentally disturbed. Please, for once, could you find someone else to bother, and just leave me the hell alone!” She turned and ran up the stairs, desperate for an escape. She was in the dorm with the door closed before James could even open his mouth. Which he, of course, still did.
“I’ll get you for that, Evans! I swear I will!” He tried as hard as he could to be angry, but the deep, sinking, mopey feeling in his chest prevented it. He turned away from the stairs to face the back of the sofa, where both of his friends (and one annoying fan) were staring at him.
“What?” he asked, shrugging his shoulders. Moony stared blankly at him, elbows resting on the chair’s back, and tried to make sense of what had happened. Padfoot tried very hard not to smile, and gave James a look that was quite unidentifiable. Wormtail squeaked. All three of them were very frustrating, from James’s point of view. He had no more time for them. He walked to the boys’ stairs calmly, headed for the dorms, and returned two minutes later with his broom in hand.
“Where -?”
“Quidditch pitch,” he said waving Remus off. “Don’t come down. I might be back. I might not. Don’t wait up.”
And that was that. Remus went back to doing Sirius’s homework, Sirius went back to charming random bits of paper, and Peter, deciding that the room was not interesting if James was not in it, climbed the stairs to the dorms and quickly fell asleep.
Meanwhile, James Potter was making his way down the corridor, running into random people and not stopping to apologize to any of them. He had almost reached the front doors when he ran into another of these annoying roadblocks, but was surprised when it did not move. He cast a glance up through his bangs, to find Old Slughorn standing before him.
“Sorry, Professor,” he muttered, dodging a bit to the right to carry on.
“Wait a minute, son,” Sluggy said, moving in front of the boy once again. “I wanted to talk to you about your Potions mark…..can’t get many jobs with a P, can you? OWLs are coming up, and I was considering offering you a tutor. Perhaps Ms. Evans….”
“NO! I mean, no thank you, Professor, I’m just fine without Evans, thanks. Now if you don’t mind, I really need to get through, Quidditch awaits.” He dodged to the left this time, but still found himself blocked by the rotund man.
“Well, if you won’t take it willingly, I’ll just make it mandatory. But since you don’t seem to be very fond of Ms. Evans, I’ll set you up with someone else. I’ll see you tomorrow night in my classroom, boy, around 8, and don’t wait around.”
At this, the man walked off, leaving James’s path to the door clear. Or, mostly clear. Before he’d had a chance to really get going again, he had rammed into someone else.
“Watch where you’re going, Potter!” It was Snape. He looked as if he was in a particularly good mood, and was up for a bit of snarkyness.
“Oh, shut it, Snivellus. Better things to do then bother around with you. I really don’t think everyone in the hall would be pleased to see your underwear once again. Now clear off, I have places to go.” He pushed easily past the thin boy and out the doors. He wasn’t aware that behind him, Severus Snape was smiling at the back of his head. His day just couldn’t any better.
“Ah, Mr. Snape, I was looking for you. Would you mind coming to my classroom at 8 tomorrow night? I believe Mr. Potter could use your assistance in my subject.”
He was not a big fan of irony. He cursed at himself as he made his way down into the dungeons. Perfectly good day, ruined by Potter, once again.
Chapter 4: Potter and His NecktieShe was running again. She wasn’t aware that at her destination, he was not pacing. The thought didn’t cross her mind once. She wasn’t focusing on anything but the movement of her legs, back and forth, how it always was when she ran. Her hair was falling down, the emerald scrunchie holding only a few bare strands of her auburn locks, but she didn’t care.
She skidded to a stop when she saw a professor headed toward her. Ducking behind a coat of armor, she had to suppress a scream as someone caught her around the waist.
“Shhh, the old man’ll hear you.”
Every muscle in her body relaxed as she recognized the voice. She had been frightened that it would be a professor, the caretaker, or worst of all, Potter. She quietly watched as their danger passed. He spun her around, and she could tell by the look on his face that he was in a horrible mood. She hated to upset him anymore, but it was the reason she had been looking for him in the first place.
“Look, Lil-,”
“Wait. Before you even get started. When I left, yesterday, I went back to the common room. And James was there. He knows, Sev. Or else he’s really good at pretending.” She cast her eyes to the floor, waiting for his response.
“How would Potter know? He’s certainly not smart enough to figure it out himself. Did he say how he knew? Or what he knew?”
“He said he heard us. Heard what, I don’t know. We were laughing pretty loud yesterday, but then again, you’re not supposed to be able to hear through the door when the -,”
“The Silencing Charm. I thought I had forgotten something. Oh, Merlin. What are we going to do now? We don’t have time to come up with a good plan. I can’t imagine how he’s going to act around me tonight.” Severus peeked around the sides of the armor, watching a stray Hufflepuff pass. “If we’re not in class, he’ll be even more suspicious. Or rather, one of his more intelligent friends will be. I doubt Potter could figure out his own necktie by himself.” He moved to step from behind their hiding spot.
“Wait,” Lily said, burying a hand in his robes to pull him back. “What do you mean, how he’ll act tonight?”
“Oh, that. Old Slughorn, the bastard, decided that Potter needs a tutor, and I’m the unlucky winner. I have to show up at the classroom at eight tonight. And he didn’t say anything about when I could leave…”
The rage that flooded his eyes scared Lily a bit, but she knew that it would pass soon. He had told her, in a rare moment of post-giggling soul-bearing, of a talk he’d had with his mother before she died. Eileen (for that is what he had called her, not mother) had asked him, after a particularly horrid encounter with his father, to never be as violent as he was. He, although only eight years old, had taken it very seriously, and hadn’t laid a hand on anyone since. He never hesitated to hex or curse, but she knew as well as he did that he would never throw a punch.
She watched what color had appeared in his face drain and his sharp features relaxed. He carefully freed his robes from her grasp and grinned. “Transfiguration waits for no one,” he said, giving her a peck a on the cheek. With a final dramatic glance, he swooped from behind the armor and into the empty corridor.
Lily smiled as she watched Severus get smaller and smaller. She smiled, not at him per se, or at his leaving, but at her curious situation. She was the girlfriend of one of the most hated boys in school, and she was loving every minute of it.
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So what do you guys think? I haven't written on this in years, but I still love it and I'd like to pick up on it again. I didn't realize until I read it today that I meant it to be Remus/Sirius at some point too
I didn't even know that I was into that then!
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I love Sev and Lily